Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification, for example, in the form of intensively managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimated how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, noncrop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (e.g., human well-being, yields, and food security) and environmental (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem services, and reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We found that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone. To realize these benefits, well-designed policies are needed to incentivize the adoption of multiple diversification strategies in unison.

Evidence on how coping practices for immediate climate variations can transform into long-term adaptive capacity are relatively limited. This study addressed this gap by identifying the coping practices for short-term climate variations and the adaptation measures used by smallholder farmers to address future climate change in northeast Ghana. The paper used a mixed-methods approach, including household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Data were collected from 555 households located in six communities across three districts in northeast Ghana. Results indicated that smallholder farmers were employing a host of practices to address the threats posed by climate change. Key adaptation practices included the planting of drought-tolerant crop varieties, the use of indigenous knowledge, intensification of irrigation, migration, adjusting the planting calendar, crop diversification, mixed farming, and sustainable land management practices. On the contrary, short-term coping practices reported by the study participants included the sale of non-farm assets, complementing agriculture with non-farm jobs, selling livestock, engaging in wage labor, charcoal burning and reliance on social networks. The results further revealed that barriers to climate change adaptation and coping practices differed by gender. The paper recommends that capacities of smallholder farmers in vulnerability hotspots should be enhanced to address immediate climate variations, as well as future climate changes. Ghana’s climate change and agricultural policies should prioritize adaptations by smallholder farmers in addressing threats posed by climate change.

This paper examines intersectionality and climate vulnerability in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Located within the southern fringe of the West African Sahel, and inhabited largely by smallholder farmers, the Upper West faces recurring climate extremes. This paper asks, how do the intersections between different inequalities and power relations shape vulnerability to climate extremes? Evidence for the paper comes from intensive qualitative fieldwork. Focusing especially on lived experiences from four case studies, the paper demonstrates the textured ways in which masculinity ideals, health status, religion, gender, age, marital status, and poverty intersect to deepen farmers’ vulnerability to dry spells, flash floods, and after-storm recovery. Overall, the paper advances two interrelated arguments. Firstly, it argues that vulnerability analysis that focuses independently on gender, class, religion, and other characteristics, is insufficient because it risks homogenizing entire groups. Secondly, the paper argues that climate extremes do not always affect women more adversely than men. Indeed, dominant ideals of threatened masculinity can make men highly vulnerable during extreme climatic events. In the end, the paper concludes that if vulnerability analysis fails to unmask difference or move beyond binary gender categories, ensuing interventions may miss the real needs of countless individuals.